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This week, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman joined the CEOs three other leading agricultural companies at a Global Harvest Initiative symposium to address worldwide agricultural needs. Thought leaders representing business, environmental groups, non-government organizations (NGOs), and government officials shared ideas about feeding six billion people around the world without negative effects on water and land.

Expected global population growth will double the need for agricultural output with environmentally responsible and sustainable processes by the year 2050.  Ellen stressed the urgency to begin focusing on agricultural solutions through innovation, investment and government policy.

“We know that we can’t wait until 2050, or even 2020, to begin addressing this problem,” Ellen said.  “I’m particularly pleased with the Global Harvest Initiative commitment to setting milestones. DuPont has a strong track record for leading in key safety/environmental trends, setting sustainability targets and tracking progress. By setting milestones and tracking progress we can make a meaningful difference in agricultural productivity.

“The global productivity gap is not an issue that any one company, one research center, one university or one government can solve,” she said. “We need to get beyond the ‘sector mentality’ of private versus public, and work together across companies if we are to be successful. Working together, we can more quickly develop sustainable solutions with a positive, lasting impact.”